Category: Crackdown On Smackdown

Yeah, so Dwayne is back… and he’s here to announce that New Orleans will be hosting next year’s Wrestlemania. I’m sure that will make Ricky Starks Saints very, very happy and I hope he gets a spot on the card. Sadly, Dwayne decides to call out Cody, says that he wants his soul, and he’ll expect an answer at this coming Saturday’s Elimination Chamber PPV. So we went from Dwayne and Cody being antagonistic to being buddy buddy and back to being antagonistic again. Will Cody refuse Dwayne’s offer and continue his babyfacing ways? Or will we get that Homelander Cody that people want? Or maybe this is how we’re getting JOHN CENA to turn heel by having him be Dwayne’s Corporate Hollywood stooge to go after the title at Mania 41?

I guess if you wanted to add some last-minute intrigue to whatever Cody was going to do for Mania, this is a way to do it. It’d be nice if this shit actually made some semblance of sense instead of whatever the fuck Dwayne is doing – or is this one of those twenty steps ahead things that he likes to tease? I remember being twenty steps ahead – it’s usually not bad until you realize that you forgot what the first ten steps were in the first place. I’m not sure if this is supposed to get me more excited for Mania or not, but either way, I’m not up for watching Moana or whatever that movie is called in any capacity… not that I’d need much to be ambivalent over; it is a Disney product, after all.

As for the rest of the show… admittedly, I didn’t watch the whole thing because three hour Smackdowns can go fly a kite (this is allegedly supposed to be a temporary thing; we’ll see.) I did catch some of the main-event six-man that saw Jacob Fatu accidentally kick that Solo guy, so chances are we’re building towards an eventual match between those two, which would be nice to see. I don’t see how much more out of this Bloodline juice you can get now that Roman is doing other stuff with other people while all you’re left with are the B-team members that nobody really cares about… and the sooner that we can get Jacob Fatu away from those B-team folks, the better off he’ll be.

Oh, and now Kevin Owens is camping out in front of Sami’s house… because that’s a thing he does now… cool.

Welp, it’s finally happened. Smackdown has moved to three hours.

That’s one less show for me to watch on a weekly (or is it weakly) basis, but let’s give the first SD of the year a shot before we completely abandon it. I betcha it’s going to have lots of fun stuff involving Diet Bloodline and wondering when Dwayne is showing up?

Or maybe we’re just using this show to hype up tonight’s RAW, which will be the first Netflix episode.

Continue reading “Smackdown (January 3rd, 2025) – XL Sized”

One quick thought after the break regarding last night’s Smackdown.

Continue reading “Smackdown (Feb. 2nd, 2024) – One Quick Thought”

And so here we are… my first live WWE television taping.

This was a Christmas gift from my older brother, which surprised the heck out of me that he’d go so far as to do that. And I am not going to lie; there was genuine excitement over this. I have never attended a live WWE television taping and I could count on one hand the number of WWE house show/live events I’ve attended over the course of my lifetime. I’ve been watching the past couple weeks worth of Smackdowns, I’ve been getting myself prepped for everything that was going on. And as months turned to weeks and weeks turned to days, I was looking forward to this moment. Even if it was from the cheap seats – and the cheap seats are way up there – but it didn’t matter because the energy of attending a live WWE event could not and would not compare to the energy of a live WWE television taping and especially moreso of the PPVs.

And then a week ago, a member of the family was hospitalized. They had a low oxygen count, they were brought in, they got examined, and we found out that one of the lungs were clogged and they’re going to see if it were possible to operate. This family member is in their 70s, they’ve been taking medication for blood circulation, and so there were a lot of factors that had to be considered. All of a sudden, the weekend draws near, almost as a bit of an afterthought considering the sudden family emergency that had emerged.

We almost didn’t attend the show because we wanted to care for this family member, but to their wisdom, they told us to go because otherwise, it’d be a waste of money and even the cheap seats for those shows are pretty fucking expensive. Now I would’ve fine skipping out on one, but we did attend both shows. We did enjoy the shows, had a fun time over there, and at the end of the day, I’m glad that we went and got this temporary reprieve from this serious situation.

Just as a heads up, I’m going to bouncing around from point to point, so don’t expect a coherent or properly laid out format – at least, compared to the usual output.

Continue reading “Smackdown (Feb. 17th, 2023) – Live Notes And Curiosities”

Last time on Smackdown, Sami tried to attack Roman and got his ass kicked. But Roman decides to give Sami a title shot for the next PPV, which coincidentally takes place in Montreal, Sami’s home turf. Meanwhile, no one knows where Jey is and that’s worrying because weezu haz title match.

Well, Jey managed to make to the show and the Usos were able to successfully retain the Tag titles over the team of Braun Strowman and Ricochet. However, Jey is still feeling a bit not-Ucey with the whole Bloodline thing. So elder statesmen Paul Heyman tells Jimmy the Usos should watch the PPV at home and get a “television perspective” on the action. Kinda of a clever way to explain the Usos’ non-presence at the show, since Jimmy’s DOA charges prevents him from crossing the board. As for Jey? Well, he gets a fist bump from Sami. Yes, I’m sure they’re very Ucey with each other.

Meanwhile, Nattie taunts Shayna Bayzler for being a Ronda Rousey rip-off, which isn’t fair because I’d much rather watch Shayna Bayzler be a monster ass-kicker than Cold Ronda any day of the week. Regardless, out comes Ronda, who helps Shayna beat up Nattie. And then Shotzi runs out for the failed saved and gets her ass kicked too. Well, that’s a thing that’s going to happen.

Baron Corbin loses another match and JBL, who was his manager for some reason, ditches him. Corbin tries to say that he’ll do better, but JBL mentions something about not being able to polish a turd. I know the idea is for us to feel sorry for Corbin, but I don’t. This is JBL cutting his losses and not wanting to have his name tied to a loser like Corbin and I can’t blame the guy.

Some guy named Madcap Moss gets an title shot against GUNTHER by winning the four-way main event match. I suggest Mr. Moss get his affairs in order.

Oh, and LA Knight is still around, apparently not having been completely killed off in the recent Bray Wyatt brain fart. Good for him, I suppose.

You know what? I’m not going to complain about this show. There was a bunch of good stuff on the show, a lot of stuff being set up for the future… hey, you know what? I’m actually looking forward to this coming weekend. Hopefully, the weather doesn’t suck.

Yes, I watched Smackdown. And indeed, I’ll be watching Smackdown next week.

So WWE will be holding their Elimination Chamber PPV in Montreal in a couple weeks… and also a Smackdown the night before. I’ll be attending both shows and I figured that I might as well watch Smackdown to sort of get up to speed on what’s going on. After the PPV, then I’ll go back to my regular inattentive self.

Now you’re wondering why just Smackdown? Why not RAW as well? Well, what’s happening on the RAW side that’s worth a damn? Cody vs. Roman is a lock for Mania, Rhea Ripley is challenging Baby Flair for the Smackdown title, and there’s going to be an Elimination Chamber match for the U.S. title as well as an Elimination Chamber match to determine who is challenging for the other Women’s title. That’s all I need to know; I don’t need to sit through three hours of RAW to get up to speed on that count and if anything happens that’s worth a damn, I’m sure it’ll be mentioned on Smackdown anyway, so it’s not worth the hassle.

But mainly, the big story is taking place on Smackdown. And Smackdown is also taking place in Montreal, not RAW. Therefore, I will only watch Smackdown because that’s where the hot stuff is happening.

And also anything involving Bray Wyatt… well, you can’t win them all.

So we’ll be adopting the ol’ five point format; basically, I’ll bring up five points worthy of mention and that’ll be it. Considering that the good stuff is happening on this show and WWE is on fire right now, I’m sure I could come up with at five talking points… turns out I can only come up with three worth talking about… and none of it involves Bray Wyatt.

Thank fuck for that.

Point #1 – Braun Strow Man and Ricochet to Challenge Usos For Tag Titles
So, for those who don’t know, the team of Braun Strowman and Ricochet came to be because Braun had a shit match with some big dude in Saudi Arabia and bragged about it on Twitter while putting down the flippy flops. This resulted in him jobbing to Ricochet and both guys apparently became buddies. Okay, fair enough. So these guys won a tournament, beating Gunther’s associates in Imperium in then finals to earn a shot at the Usos’ tag titles. The match is set for next Friday. I would ask why they’re not doing the PPV, but then I remembered that one of the Usos (I think it’s Jimmy; I don’t recall) has some legal issues that prevent him from coming into Canada – the PPV is taking place in Montreal, by the way. So there you go. That’s something.

During the show, the Bloodline addressed Jey’s absence. If you’ll recall at the Rumble, Jey was the only one who didn’t participate in the group’s beating of Sami after the match. He simply walked away. Now there’s a number of things you could do with Jey; possible singles run, maybe try and go for Roman himself… but in terms of the story being told, there’s only one direction that makes the most sense. Which leads me to my next point…

Point #2 – Rey Beats Dominick In A NASCAR Race
Yeah, so they do this vignette where Rey Mysterio and convicted felon Dominick bicker for a bit at a race track and both decide to have a race. Rey wins the race, prompting Dominick to whine about how Rey cheated and if Mommy was here, he’d win. Well, that was certainly a thing that happened. On the bright side, I’d much rather see Rey and Dominick Mysterio race each other on a NASCAR speedway than watch another shitty Bray Wyatt match.

Point #3 – Roman Accepts Sami’s Challenge, Will Defend Title At Elimination Chamber
So let’s start with the big takeaway; Roman Reigns addresses the crowd, stressing that he’d rather talk about Cody (who won the Rumble and thus deserves his attention), but the crowd wants Sami. So Roman talks about Sami being greedy until Sami comes out and attacks Roman. Roman flees, but Sami challenges Roman to a match for the Undisputed title, only to get ambushed by Jimmy and Solo. Roman taunts Sami and blames him for tearing apart his Bloodline before accepting Sami’s challenge for a title match. And he will defend the title in Montreal at the Elimination Chamber PPV where Roman can embarrass Sami in front of his family, friends, etc.

Roman is so angered by Sami’s betrayal that the mics have trouble keeping up. That’s twice in a row these mics fail to capture the noise. It’s like they’re not used to a hot crowd… and given the television that they’ve produced over the past few years, I can’t blame the mics.

Most folks figured this would be the way things would go and you know what? I approve. If you’re going to give Roman a challenger at the PPV, may as well make it the hometown guy with the huge following and further that story along. Most people would’ve liked to have seen this match at Mania, possibly even see Sami be the one to end Roman’s two-year reign as champion. Those people are fucking dumb.

Look, I like Sami. He’s a talented guy. He’s got a wave of momentum on his side. He’s being pushed farther than he has any business being pushed. This is pretty much the hottest run of his career. I am beyond stoked that he’s getting a title shot on home turf and I am all but certain that Sami could very well have a run with the WWE title at some point. That having been said, Sami Zayn is NOT the guy who should be ending Roman Reigns’ run as champion, especially on a B-level PPV with Wrestlemania on the horizon. He can have a good match in Montreal, he can come close, and then you can have Jey Uso show up, screw Sami out of the win, and then do the thing where Kevin Owens makes the big save, he and Sami reunite and challenge the Usos for the tag titles.

THAT’s the story being told. Roman isn’t the endgame; he’s just a peripheral player in the story being told. And the story being told is KO and Sami getting back together, challenging the Usos for the tag titles at Mania, and possibly winning the titles. It’s the story that makes the most sense. I don’t care if it’s predictable. That’s not the important thing. The important thing is the journey. And if the journey and the story being told makes sense and feels important, then the endgame being a foregone conclusion isn’t something to begroan; it’s something to anticipate.

The way I see it, I’ve got two matches to look forward to this year at Mania; Cody vs. Roman… and KO/Sami vs. the Usos. For the first time in a long time, I’m actually excited about Wrestlemania. Please don’t ruin that feeling with a kneejerk reaction that makes no sense.

Oh… and there were a couple women matches. Flair retained her title. And Nattie is in the chamber. Meh.

Well, I’ve decided to give Smackdown a shot. Normally, this isn’t seen as a big deal, but I want to see if this becomes a regular viewing thing on Friday nights or deserving of a spot on my DVR alongside Dynamite and even the occasional episode of Impact that I might sit down and watch.

Of course, the episode that I choose to jump on board for is following the announcement that Youtube star and moonlighting boxer Logan Paul is slated to challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Championship… in Saudi Arabia. That means I can expect a build towards a main event that doesn’t interest me in the slightest on a show that I have no intention of watching. For the record, the only Saudi show I’ve seen was the first one from back in 2018 with the Greatest Oil Rumble or whatever it’s called and I’ve made a point to never watch these shows, no matter how important they are.

Honestly, they should’ve saved this main event for when they end up doing a show in Japan. I hear Logan Paul has done great things for the dead community there… but I digress. How was this Smackdown show?

Continue reading “Smackdown (Sept. 23rd, 2022) – Stuff Happens, I Guess”

I’m experiencing some audio problems at the moment, so we’re doing these wrestling TV musings in the interim since they’re easier to cook up. There might be more “phantom posts” being done of this ilk.

So apparently, I had Smackdown on the ol’ DVR and decided to give it a whirl, since it’s a supposed new era and all that. And whenever I would try to jump onto a first show of a new era, I would’ve liked to go through the whole thing and bring up some good points, bad points, or whatever. And I was hoping to do the same here.

WWE just did their draft a while ago and this episode of Smackdown was supposed to be the beginning of a new era where the RAW and Smackdown rosters wouldn’t be crossing over. Except we got Survivor Series coming up and we need to start building up to our annual “brand supremacy” stuff that only a minute group of people outside the WWE bubble would actually care about. But still, it was a new era and with a new era – allegedly, there is a new freshness.

As it turns out… that’s not quite the case. Because at the end of the day, it’s still WWE. And a new era may as well be another coat of paint over the same aging table that’s starting to crack. A lot of the stuff that irked me about the show relates to production; the awful 3D graphics used for the entrances, the constant camera cuts, the insufferable commentary that spews out many words and says absolutely nothing, and the main event angle was fucking stupid. We’ll get to that.

Continue reading “Smackdown (October 22nd, 2021) – It’s A (Supposed) New Era”

Hey, look. I watched an actual Smackdown show… kinda, sorta…

This episode featured the first appearance of WWE’s new THUNDERDOME gimmick, which was built in a bigger arena that isn’t the Performance Center or Full Sail studios. Apparently, WWE payed Florida some pocket change to rent out an arena for a couple months with the caveat that there’d be no fans. So here’s the crazy concept where they have “virtual fans” watch the show and give the show that “much needed” vibe and energy it’s been lacking.

Or at least, that’s the theory.

Continue reading “Smackdown (August 21st, 2020) – TUNDAH-DUMM!”

So I saw some of the new Smackdown recently; the first episode to air on the FOX Network, which means a fancy new logo, a fancy new set, more of them 3D graphics that I hate so much, and an attempt to make the show feel more like “sport” than “entertainment.” At least, that’s the theory.

Well, I wish I could say that they certainly tried… and in fairness, there were aspects of the show that I did like… mostly the new set and logo, but in terms of the entertainment bits, it pales in comparison to the AEW show I saw this past Wednesday and somehow, I wasn’t all that surprised. It didn’t even compare to the little bit of RAW that I saw before giving up on that program, which was shocking.

Regardless, here are five points I’ve noted…

Continue reading “Smackdown (Oct. 4th, 2019) – Brock Beats Kofi In Six Seconds, Faces Off Against Chubby Old Guy”